Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis  warned against hooliganism in the name of the Marathi language. He said there is nothing wrong with being proud of Marathi, but any form of violence will not be tolerated by the government.

Fadnavis said, “It is not wrong to be proud of the Marathi language in Maharashtra. But if someone indulges in hooliganism due to language, we will not tolerate it. If someone beats up people on the basis of language, this will not be tolerated. The police have filed an FIR and taken action on the incident, and if anyone creates such a language dispute in future, legal action will be taken. We are proud of our Marathi, but injustice cannot be done to any language of India in this manner; we will have to keep this in mind. And sometimes I am surprised that these people embrace English and create disputes over Hindi. What kind of thinking is this and what kind of action is this? Therefore, strict action will be taken against those who take the law into their own hands.”

On July 3, Maharashtra Minister Yogesh Kadam said, “In Maharashtra, you have to speak Marathi. If you don’t know Marathi, your attitude shouldn’t be that you won’t speak Marathi… If anyone disrespects Marathi in Maharashtra, we will enforce our laws. Those who beat up (the shop owner) should not take the law into their own hands. They should have filed a complaint against the concerned person; action would have been taken.”

Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray said, “We want that our mother tongue Marathi is not insulted and no language is forcefully imposed… We don’t want anybody to take the law into their hands, but when it is the other way round and Marathi or Maharashtra is insulted, things can escalate.”